The Frozen Ship (One-shot)

The Frozen Ship was a Dread one-shot held on the 19th of November, 2019. Its story took place on the 7th of May, 1915, and drew inspiration from the real British ocean liner RMS Lusitania.

As a luxury cruise ship makes its way across the Atlantic from New York City to Liverpool, the ship is unexpectedly frozen in time for seemingly everyone but Jacob Hoffman, Milton Elbertson, Dr. Daniel Ferrum and Charles Marx. However, they soon discover that they are not alone, and that there is a haunting presence on board.

Jacob Hoffman
Jacob Hoffman was the financially successful owner of the Hoffman Brewery in Manhattan, New York City. Despite his financial success, Jacob was a troubled man who struggled with his own product. A heavy producer as well as consumer of alcohol, Jacob drank to soothe himself and numb his pain. This pain partly stemmed from an accident he had a few about twenty years ago when he drunkenly trampled a small child to death with his horse.

He was bound to Britain on this cruise ship to visit his German relatives. Naturally, he found himself a returning costumer to the bar, often enjoying his favorite drink: a smooth scotch.

Milton Elbertson
Milton Elbertson was a 14 year old boy proficient in the art of fencing, rendering him quite strong and agile even for his young age. He was the youngest of three sibling. His elder sister, Felicia, was the well-behaved and smart one, while he was the adventurous and rebellious one. His older brother Albin died young in a horse trampling accident twenty years ago, the knowledge of which was always kept a secret from Milton.

Their father works with the man who owns the cruise ship and intended to bring the wife and daughter Felicia for a business meeting in Liverpool. Milton stole took his sister's place on the cruise by sabotaging her homework, leaving her grounded and the ticket available for him.

Dr. Daniel Ferrum
Doctor Daniel Ferrum was a man strongly devoted to principles of medicine and science. A critic of religion and believer of eugenics, he was unmarried due to not having found a woman worthy of his offspring. As a doctor, he was specializing in emergency care and was on the ship bound for Liverpool because of a Doctors' Convention being orchestrated there.

He was enjoying a single malt whiskey in the bar when time froze.

Charles Marx
Charles Marx was a business man from Wall Street, New York City, that was well versed in the art of the deal. He was on the ship because he had managed to get a hold of a decent ticket that would enable him to meet a business contact in Liverpool while not riding in the cargo.

While having an affinity for whiskey an cigars, Charles was actually a nervous man in general. He believed in faking it until you made it, putting on his confidence like a mask and always been on his toes.

Introduction
The year was 1915, while much of Europe was having fun playing in the war to end all wars, the characters were all living a life of luxury on a graceful ocean liner. It departed from New York City on the 1st of May, and after a week of extravagant dances and fine dinners, it reached European waters as it was passing the southern tip of Ireland. This Friday morning felt ominous. A great fog landed upon the waters and filled the ship with a chill. Captain Turner assured the passengers that it was fine and would pass, which truthfully, it did by lunchtime. In the early afternoon, at precisely 1400 hours, something quite peculiar happened. Everything and everyone stopped. Time stood still. The people dancing froze like statues filled with vigor. The gamblers dice hung motionless in the air. And the scotch pouring from the bottle never reached the glass of the rather confused Mr. Jacob Hoffman, the only man not frozen.

Act I
Jacob Hoffman was sitting at the bar when everyone around him froze. As far as he knew, he was the only one animate. He spend his first day in panic, but soon enough became forced to accept living alone in this frozen hell. A week since the freeze later, he found himself talking to people to pass time, even though they could not hear him. He even picked out a favorite frozen person: a man sitting at a dining table he would occasionally join and talk to. Another week later, Jacob started to hear and see things. Sounds of footsteps, some frozen people appeared to have moved. Once, he even walked in on his favorite person wobbling in his chair, as if he had just been walking. Jacob was getting pretty unnerved.

One day, Jacob was playing a prank on a frozen person to pass the time, but was clearly not having fun with it. It was just a way to pass the time and a distraction from the fear. However, this time would be different as the person suddenly came to life. It was Charles Marx, and Jacob was finally not alone anymore. From Charles' perspective, time froze in that moment, while Jacob tried to convince him that it had been weeks for him. Jacob also explained to his new friend his situation and that he had been hearing and seeing things. As if on cue, they heard a sound nearby just then. Something fell to the ground.

They investigated the sound and discovered that it was actually another person who had been animate for a few hours now. The noise was a boy named Milton Elbertson rummaging behind the bar, looking to score some alcohol. They introduced themselves and conversed for a bit until they heard two shrieks and thud coming from right below them, below deck, which they then reluctantly decided to check out.

Shortly before, the doctor Daniel Ferrum came to, but slowly and while being dragged by something inhuman. He could not open his eyes and its touch was cold and enveloping. He could move his head slightly, and when doing so the dragging stopped. He then discovered that he could also move his arm, which he decided to use to punch whatever was dragging him. The fist struck its target, resulting in a demonic shriek. Daniel was let go and fell to the ground with his own scream. Being still quite stiff, it took a minute for him to open his eyes and be able to move freely. He discovered that he was lying in a hallway below deck. By this time he was found by Jacob, Charles and Milton. And not long after that, Daniel heard another voice being right down there with them. It was the sound of a woman singing.

While the rest of the group were discussing what to do, Daniel followed the sound of the singing down a hallway. Upon turning a corner, he saw a woman wearing white glide across the other end of the hallway, disappearing behind another corner. He decided to pursue, with the rest of the group following him while wondering what was going on.

Act II
They caught up to the woman, who turned out to be real. She presented herself as Sarah Ellis: the only passenger who was never frozen. She claims that the ship had been suspended in time for two decades, and that she was in her twenties when it happened. Now, she looked to be in her forties. She told them everything she knew, which was unfortunately not much. She confirmed Jacob's and Daniel's fear in telling them that there were inhuman creatures on board; invisible beasts that steal away people to feast on. This is why she now preferred to spend her time in the relative safety of the boiler room below deck. When asked for the cause of the time stop, she hesitated. The group pressed her to answer, and she eventually gave in and told them that she can show them how it happened.

Sarah led them to the middle-class sleeping quarters and opened up one of the rooms. Inside was a circle of kids sitting around a demonic ritualistic shape drawn on the ground. She said that she came across this during one of the walks she used to take around the ship in the first few years of being alone. Upon seeing these kids, Milton actually recognized them. He used to play with them on the ship, though not for long as they were weird and obsessing over cultish witchcraft. Milton even remembered that these kids actually mentioned Sarah Ellis by name a few times. When pressed about why the kids knew her, Sarah Ellis confessed that she was actually their babysitter, specifically ordered to keep them in check. But shamefully, she admits she failed. Before the group could investigate the room more closely, Sarah interrupted them to tell them that she could hear the beasts coming.

Once back below deck in safety, Sarah Ellis told them that she had had enough action for now, and wanted to rest and be alone in the boiler room. While she did not want to be disturbed, the group decided to then investigate and look around on their own. Jacob and Charles found two swords hanging over a fireplace which they armed themselves with. Milton went to his parents who were frozen and spoke to them for a bit before finding his mother's journal. In this journal, it was revealed to him that he used to have a brother named Albin. This brother was familiar to Jacob Hoffman, who while drunk trampled him with a horse twenty years ago. They do not spend much time discussing it, and instead swift forgiveness is passed.

The group then decided to revisit the kids ritual scene, while doing their best to avoid the invisible beasts on their way. Once in the room again, they found a torn out page from a journal belonging to the kids. It solidified the connection they had to Sarah Ellis as the entry revealed that there was something strange with Sarah Ellis in the passenger list. This list would be somewhere in the captain's office, so that was were they were headed next.

On their way to the steering gear room which is connected to the captain's office, they were again trying to avoid the invisible beasts. This time, however, they could not sneak by and had to run for it. Most of the group managed to make it to the steering room, but not Charles Marx. He ran ahead first and could not turn away from a beast in time. As if from thin air, his throat was sliced bare and he fell to the ground, sliding across the floor with his momentum and leaving a blood trail.

After a moment of silence for their fallen in the steering room, the group got to work on investigating the room and the captain's office. Dr. Daniel Ferrum found an inventory list covering the food rations of the ship. He deduced that Sarah Ellis' story did not add up. The food rations simply were not enough to produce a varied healthy diet for two decades. Sarah Ellis should have developed scurvy by then.

Inside the captain's office, Milton was faced with a revolver pistol pointed at his face. It was held by the captain and aimed at the door, though he was frozen in time. Milton grabbed the handgun and the group made some more discoveries. They found the passenger list, and Sarah Ellis was in fact in it. However, the Sarah Ellis in the list was 67 years old instead of being in her forties as she claimed. There was an attached picture in the list which looked just like her, but older. It seemed that during her time alone on the frozen ship, she had been getting younger, not older.

Lastly, they found the remainder of the kids' journal. Upon reading it, the group finally found the full truth. Sarah Ellis was a sort of vampire. A beast that could regain youth by consuming the life force of people. The kids had calculated that she gained about a fortnight of life per person consumed. It became apparent that the kids' ritual did not freeze the ship, as Sarah claimed. The ritual was instead meant to strip all of her powers from her and turn her into the frail old woman she actually was. The freezing of the ship was likely her work, and the beasts under her control, so that she could consume hundreds of people effectively and undisturbed. The kids theorized that she could control time using a wristwatch she was always wearing. If only the group could destroy the watch, time would resume and the kids would complete their ritual in their cabin.

Act III
While uncertain whether or not Sarah Ellis was on to them and would attempt to kill them at any moment, the group decided to confront her. Daniel secured Charles' sword and they made they way back. They avoided and fled from beasts all the way from the steering gear room to below deck and eventually found themselves alone outside of the boiler room. The big metal door was closed shut before them, and they decided to knock. Sarah answered their calls, and seemed to be ignorant of the group's discoveries. However, she blew them off, insisting that she did not want them to come in and disturb her. Milton pulled a very persuasive monologue on her, talking about having made discoveries they needed to show her and managed to convince her to let them in.

After a lot of loud noises, the door opened before them and they could enter the boiler room. It was wide and deep, and dimly lit by the fire of the boiler. The far end of the room was too dark to see, and the group believed to see shadows dancing in the dark. When Sarah asked what was so important that they had to come in, Jacob approached with his sword on hand and tried to get close enough to snatch the wristwatch off of her. She caught on to them, however, and the battle was on. She snatched the sword off of Jacob and gut him with it, killing him immediately. Daniel flew upon her and their swords danced in the light of the frozen fire. Meanwhile, it was apparent that she was summoning the beasts to their location, as the sounds of screeching and clawing hastily came closer to them. As Milton was fumbling with the pistol, it was obvious that Sarah was more powerful than the doctor, and quickly had him pressed up against the wall with nowhere to go. Milton aimed his gun and fired.

The bullet was perfectly aimed and struck the wristwatch, rendering it a firework display of exploding glass and metal pieces. Stunned, Sarah took a step back and suddenly it was Daniel gaining ground and the upper hand in their duel. As time was resumed, the children in their cabin were completing their ritual and Sarah was rapidly losing years of her life. When she eventually became weak enough, she was no match for Dr. Daniel Ferrum who struck her down. In ending Sarah Ellis, the invisible beasts who were almost upon them also perished in the same dying breath. Suddenly, Daniel and Milton, now alone in the boiler room, could hear the sounds of footsteps, music and people on the floors above. They were back.

As they made their way up from below deck, they found a newspaper clipping on the ground. It was a warning from the German Embassy that the RMS Lusitania would enter an active warzone on its way to Liverpool, and would be at risk for attack.

Epilogue
As they settled at the bar to celebrate their costly success, they heard some commotion. People who were reanimated were looking around for everyone who went permanently missing. A child was calling out for his friend. A mother for her son. A man for his wife. This was happening all over the ship. 500 people in total had disappeared in the blink of an eye - to them. Neither found what they were looking for. But that was not all. Even though evil had been defeated, it did not feel that way. A few minutes passed and the panic was spreading.

They then heard a voice from outside screaming through a megaphone. It was the voice of 18 year old Leslie Morton who shouted "Torpedoes coming on the starboard side!" They questioned the validity of such a statement, considering that this was a civilian ocean liner with thousands onboard. There had to have been a mistake. A second later the entire ship was rocked by a violent explosion. Immediately thereafter the boiler room exploded, making them and everyone onboard hit the deck. It sounded like a million-ton hammer hitting a steam boiler a hundred feet high. The RMS Lusitania was sinking.

At precisely 14:10 on the 7th of May, 1915, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by a German u-boat off the coast of Ireland. It sank within minutes. Of the almost 2000 civilian passengers and crew, only 761 survived. The reason given by the Germans was that the ship was carrying army supplies. Nevertheless, it proved to be one of the decisive moments which turned international opinion against Germany in the First World War.

As for the fates of Milton Elbertson and Dr. Daniel Ferrum, that remained to be seen.